Mall Zombie to Cult Icon

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A late-night ask changed horror history. We’re at Living Dead Weekend 2024 with Lenny Lee—yes, the machete zombie from George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead—unpacking how a crew guy became a cult icon, how a practical head gag sold one of the film’s most unforgettable moments, and why a 19-second shot still pulls cheers decades later. This is a ground-level look at Romero’s set culture: collaborative, curious, and open to anyone willing to get their hands dirty.

Lenny walks us through the pivot from lights and camera to on-screen monster, the careful blocking behind the biker melee with Tom Savini, and the practical effects that made the “one-take” illusion feel raw and dangerous. We relive the Pittsburgh premiere when the theater roared for every familiar face, and follow the clip’s afterlife as it carried Lenny to conventions around the world. Along the way, we trade stories of 16mm projection, near-misses with hungry projectors, and backyard screenings where the thrum of the machine and fog in the beam turned film into community.

We don’t stop at nostalgia. You’ll hear mall-tour trivia that digs deeper than photo ops, the reveal that David Emge (Flyboy) was a Vietnam veteran who actually knew his way around a rifle, and the wild fact that the bank scene tossed real money that had to be accounted for down to the last bill. It’s a vivid time capsule and a craft masterclass rolled into one: practical effects, analog cinema, and the fan energy that keeps Dawn of the Dead undead. If you love Romero, Savini, horror history, or the grit of filmmaking before pixels, this one’s for you. Hit follow, share with your horror crew, and leave a review with the moment that made you a Dawn believer.

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:02):
Sam Fisher of the Fishbowl at Living Dead Weekend
2024 with longtime friend andmachete zombie, Lenny Lee.

SPEAKER_03 (00:11):
Hi Sam, how's it going?

SPEAKER_00 (00:12):
It's going excellent.
Thank you for taking the time toswim in the bowl with me.

SPEAKER_03 (00:17):
My pleasure.
What's on your mind today, Sam?

SPEAKER_00 (00:22):
Obviously, George Romero, Dawn of the Dead, one of
the most infamous zombie killsand innovative make-of-effects
techniques of all time.
What was it like uh working withGeorge and uh Dawn the Dead and

(00:43):
I'll get into that?

SPEAKER_03 (00:44):
George.
How are you?
Working with George was a lot offun.
I mean, um working on ChiefGeorge.

SPEAKER_00 (00:53):
Well, we have a staff.

unknown (00:56):
And then the second one was night light.

SPEAKER_03 (00:59):
And uh I had a great experience this time.
I was on a cruise.
That's what they call it.
Right.
Like lights, moving places,cable, tripods, doing a camera
cruise, the garments.
Right.
And then um, fortunately for me,uh George was one of those

(01:20):
people directed.
And uh I know, and I had to domy list.
One night we talked about mycharacter and said he's on.
One night he had uh set uplighting, camera, waiting for
the one of those three o'clock,and George is uh the notes and I

(01:46):
lean over to George and say, HeyGeorge, I like to play a zombie.
George is like, go upstairs andsee what they have.
So we were in the Monroe Month,and we were downstairs.
And so I literally ran back thebest club and I went into

(02:08):
community room.
Community rooms where wegathered each night to discuss
the plan for the day, right?

SPEAKER_02 (02:16):
Right.

SPEAKER_03 (02:17):
And so uh there was one guy in there and said, Hey,
he was basically come up and seewhat you have.
So he pointed out a real machinewith a cut by his head, not this
one.

SPEAKER_02 (02:37):
Right.

SPEAKER_03 (02:38):
And um, I'm like, that is cool.
Because I didn't want to getshot.
Right, right.
Even my mind I didn't want toget shot.
So long story short, cut to thetears, 24 hours later.

unknown (02:51):
I'm zombieing through the mall.
And talks to me in themotorcycle.

SPEAKER_03 (02:59):
And he's in the uh the carrier, the side car.
So coming past me and I zombieup to me.
Knock him out of the sideclock.
Of course, he's very unhappy.
And uh gets up, runs up to me,kicks me in the chest, sends me
flying across the me being azombie, I'm not very involved.

(03:23):
So Tom comes over to me, sitshis foot on my shelf.
I look up, I give him a hair.
And then he takes a spaghettiout of his boot and he says, Say
goodbye, creepy.
Obviously, it didn't happen allin one motion.

SPEAKER_02 (03:40):
Right, right.

SPEAKER_03 (03:41):
Several different positions.
We did it all in one take,though.

SPEAKER_02 (03:44):
That's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 (03:45):
Part of it in one take.

SPEAKER_02 (03:46):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (03:48):
And um I was just thinking, I just want to make
the final cut.

SPEAKER_02 (03:52):
Right, right.

SPEAKER_03 (03:53):
That's all I cared about, is making the final cut.
Because I always wanted to be amonster.

SPEAKER_02 (03:57):
Right.

SPEAKER_03 (03:57):
Because when I was a kid, I used to read Famous
Monster, Filmland, and like, youknow, when you were a kid, when
I was a kid, like eight, nine,ten, you were watching
Frankenstein, Dracula, BodySnatchers, you know, stuff in
the 50s.
Like people were now watchingstuff from the 70s and 80s.

SPEAKER_02 (04:16):
Right, right.

SPEAKER_03 (04:17):
And so having this opportunity for me was like just
the little boy dream that I hadwhen I was a kid.
Right.
I was when they play a monster.
So several months later, thepremiere of the film is in
downtown Pittsburgh, and all thecast, the crew, whoever lived
close, and their family membersof one kind or another were all

(04:40):
invited.
And so, of course, everybody'sinvolved, very involved.
Right.
Every time somebody who was partof the crew or cast was on
screen, we were all cheering.
So I know that my bit happenslater in the film, so I'm kind
of sweating out because I'mwaiting to see it.

(05:01):
And then up comes me and I'mwalking through the mall, and
I'm like, oh, and I'm like, andevery and I get it in the hand
and everybody said so.
It was kind of a cheap thrill,right?

SPEAKER_02 (05:14):
Right, right.

SPEAKER_03 (05:15):
And I was like, I had like my heart was pounding.
I was like, wow, I'm gladeverybody liked it.
Of course they did.
And um, so I didn't know it, butthose those images, that film
clip, 19 whole seconds, becamean iconic clip, which became an

(05:36):
iconic zombie, which has sincethe year 2000 had me invited to
conventions uh virtually allover the world.

SPEAKER_02 (05:45):
Right, right.

SPEAKER_03 (05:46):
And um I really get tired of it, no, I don't.
Uh I I love the fans, uh, I lovethe energy.
It's like an adrenaline kit.

SPEAKER_02 (05:57):
Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (05:58):
Okay, you know, I'm not a drinker, not a smoker, no,
I don't do drugs.
I just really love the wholeexperience.

SPEAKER_02 (06:07):
Right.

SPEAKER_03 (06:08):
And so it's something that's kind of
becoming elegant all in my life,which I never anticipated in a
million years.

SPEAKER_02 (06:15):
Right.

SPEAKER_03 (06:15):
Nor how long this film will be so epic.
And it seems to keep going onbecause it's got fans that are
just as young as I was start outdoing it.

SPEAKER_00 (06:26):
Exactly, exactly.
Do you mind if we get a shot ofall the all the the the famous
machetes for you to action?

SPEAKER_03 (06:36):
Okay.
2003, it was like the 25thanniversary of the film works,
whatever it was.
I don't remember what it was.
So I was there as a guest, I'mhaving a great time.
Someone says, Oh, you know, thisis a film, it sits a little bit,

(06:57):
and it belongs to Greg McTearl.
I'm like, oh, that's good.
I said, but the problem is, wedon't have a project.
I said, well, I didn't need toproject by nothing.
So I bring it in the nextmorning.
And I show the guy how to do it.
So like like a minute beforehe's about to project the reels,
he says, Oh, that'll eat it.

(07:18):
Like, I knew you're gonna dothis.
I said, Oh, I have a lot ofhome.
Because, man, why should weupgrade it's gonna be so pissed?
So I go, okay, alright, I'll doit.
So, but I can't remember.
How many reels were there?
It was all it was the wholemovie.

(07:38):
But I mean, how many reels?
You know how many four maybe.
I mean memory, three or four.
Yeah.
Because I remember like havingto keep changing.
The audience was like 34 andfive.
Yeah, I had to change the reel.

SPEAKER_04 (07:52):
But that's yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (07:54):
That's like, okay, this is pretty neat, right?
I'm doing projecting the framestill.
And so, Rick, do you still havethat clip?

SPEAKER_04 (08:04):
Yeah, I do.
Have you projected it?
I haven't projected.
Most of my 16mm projectors areall kaput, so I haven't had a
chance to, but I just found aplace in LA because I have a lot
of movies, a lot of stuff that Icollected on 16.

SPEAKER_03 (08:21):
So I still have a page, I think, works.

SPEAKER_04 (08:24):
Really?

SPEAKER_03 (08:25):
Isn't a page, it's like the same one.

SPEAKER_04 (08:29):
Yeah.

unknown (08:31):
Experimental film together.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (08:36):
So we're gonna invite everybody to this theater
at home stuff.

unknown (08:41):
Yeah, three weeks.

SPEAKER_03 (08:42):
And uh you would think it's a change.
Right.
Yeah.
And uh so the projector is likemanager coming kind of just
throw it up.
And it wasn't even new what theyhad.

SPEAKER_04 (08:57):
Yeah.
And it's still that would alwaysworry me because you have one
bad projector and it eats yourmovie.
Right.
Well this was very smooth.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (09:05):
This was a really I mean that's what I used things
to work very nice.

SPEAKER_04 (09:10):
Oh, good.

SPEAKER_03 (09:11):
And there's certain things you have to do to kind of
like you have to like keep yourhand here.

SPEAKER_04 (09:16):
Yeah.
I used to I used to run 16millimeter movies in my backyard
on weekend nights.
We would make popcorn and Iwould put the pr the screen out
and we would watch movies likeFrankenstein meets a wolf man.
I would have parties in LA andinvite people over, and we would
just the sound of the projectorand the and the little, you

(09:38):
know, the night fog in front ofthem.

SPEAKER_03 (09:41):
That's great, that's great.
No, because I wanted to ask youthis.
I was literally gonna come overnow and ask you.
Yeah, but these guys came by andI said, I know they want to use
something.
I'll do it now.
And I'm gonna go over and say hito Greg.

SPEAKER_04 (09:57):
Oh, so I saved you the trip.

SPEAKER_03 (10:01):
So I'm good that way.
Yeah, we're good that way.
Hey, well, I wanted to show yousomething, but I well, I'll be
back.

SPEAKER_04 (10:08):
Okay, but I need you to pause the interview for 10
seconds.
Sure.
I got Tom and just give me itacross there.

SPEAKER_03 (10:15):
Okay.

SPEAKER_00 (10:17):
Craig Nikatira, ladies and gentlemen.

SPEAKER_04 (10:22):
I probably have it 15 times.
But this is cool because I haveTom and Marty on the same one.

SPEAKER_03 (10:27):
My cohorts.

SPEAKER_04 (10:29):
Cohorts.
Thank you.
I know, I see that.

SPEAKER_03 (10:41):
I mean, I gotta do it right, but not do it at all.

SPEAKER_04 (10:44):
Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 (10:45):
You're welcome anytime.

SPEAKER_04 (10:46):
Now I gotta go back to my table.
I'm gonna come back and audio.

SPEAKER_03 (10:51):
Oh sorry.
These are gold around here.

SPEAKER_00 (10:57):
Awesome.
That that was I know, that wasspectacular.
Right, right, right.

SPEAKER_03 (11:08):
Right.
He's actually he was on thefirst mole tour.
Well, actually, he wasn't on thefirst mole tour I ever did.
But after we we did it, it wasuh me and David Emgave.
We did a separate one, and thenthere was like Ken Frey and a
bunch of other people, a lotmore than just the two of us.
I think Greg comes up to meafter he goes, I heard your

(11:30):
mallotur was actually better.
I wasn't much worse.
It was really good.
Yeah, because we we got intolike detail, we wrote it all
down.
We weren't just like trying toshow people like we knew what we
were talking about, we got intoit.

SPEAKER_02 (11:46):
Right, right.

SPEAKER_03 (11:47):
And uh, I don't know if you know, but David was an
actual Vietnam veteran.

SPEAKER_01 (11:55):
I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_03 (11:56):
And Flywall actually knew how to shoot a rifle better
than his cohorts.

SPEAKER_01 (12:04):
Oh wow.

SPEAKER_03 (12:06):
And uh so him fumbling around with the rifle
was actually not true.
He actually knew how to shootthat rifle.

SPEAKER_00 (12:13):
Interesting, very interesting.

SPEAKER_03 (12:15):
Yeah, so that's what made David so cool, like because
he was playing a character thatwas nothing, nothing really like
him.

SPEAKER_02 (12:22):
Right, right.

SPEAKER_03 (12:23):
I mean, obviously, he had some technical prowess.
I mean, he could like you knowtake off in a helicopter and
land it.
He was great that way.

SPEAKER_02 (12:31):
Right.

SPEAKER_03 (12:32):
But he also had some uh skills he wasn't willing to
talk about.
David was pretty modest in reallife.
And um, and then I was like, heyDavid, tell him about the money
at the bank.
He goes, Ah, Lenny knows thestory better than me.
You do.
I'm like, come on, Dan, I don'twant to hear everything from me.
So David goes, okay, listen.

(12:54):
So when Ken and I were in thebank and we threw the money up
in the air, it was all realmoney.
Oh and it all had to beaccounted for.
Because it was real money, ifany of it was missing, we can
see the producer was gonna haveto pay the bank.
Well, of course, none of it wasmissing.

SPEAKER_00 (13:09):
Right, right.
Yeah.
We are good.
Lenny Catching out Ray Catch andI'm gonna go.
Thank you so much.
Sam the man on the fishbowl hereat Living together weekend 2024
with Lenny Lee, aka zombie.
Thank you so much for coming onthe show again and having the

(13:30):
time to win the ball.
You too, thank you so much.